Monthly Archives: November 2019

By Scott Simon, NPR

William Ruckelshaus was a conservationist, an Indiana Republican conservative who believed in conserving balanced budgets, limited government powers, constitutional checks and balances, and clean air and water. “Nature provides a free lunch,” he said, “but only if we control our appetites.” He helped write Indiana’s first air pollution laws as a state deputy attorney general in the 1960s, and was appointed the first head of the Environment Protection Agency by President Nixon in 1970. Continue here.
Photo Credit: The William D. Ruckelshaus Center

Gunnison Country Times

The City of Gunnison is narrowing in on its goal of becoming “net-zero” in its electric power supply next year. MEAN [Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska] representative Sarah Jones said the agency is currently working with city leaders to craft a new resource portfolio to meet Gunnison’s net-zero goal. “We are actively working with them to achieve their goals right now,” said Jones. Jones pointed to two other communities in Colorado, Aspen and Glenwood Springs, that have followed a similar path of pursuing renewable energy in lieu of reliance on fossil fuels. Both those municipalities served by MEAN are now sourcing energy from non-carbon emitting sources to be 100 percent renewable. However, according to City Manager Russ Forrest, while the goal is to be net-zero, there are still contractual details to be worked out. Read more here.

“These new cold climate air source heat pumps are functional down to -10, -15 degrees,” [Chris Carrick with the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board] says. And they run on electricity, so they generate heat without burning oil, natural gas or other fuels on site. According to a report by the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, switching to heat pumps could dramatically reduce the carbon pollution caused by home heating. They have the most impact in places with renewable electricity. Read more here.

More Yale Climate Connections Posts / Audio

Wind energy is on the rise in the Great PlainsSouthwest Power Pool oversees the electricity grid in parts of 14 states, including Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In April, the organization briefly generated more than 65% of its power from wind – a national record for a regional grid operator.

By Christine Hicks, Environmental Defense Fund

A recent study developed by The Accelerate Group measured the economic impact of CEJA and found the answer — it’s tens of billions of dollars. The new economic impact report released by the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition shines a light on just how much CEJA would contribute to the state’s economy. Here’s the bottom line: the legislation, if enacted, would result in $39 billion in new private investment in Illinois through 2030. Read more here.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

Leveled by a tornado, a small Kansas town dreamed big and got even smaller, KTEN
Business owner Scott Brown, who “played a key role in Greensburg’s recovery:”
Brown would like to think that all the community has accomplished over the last 12 years has made it less vulnerable to the economic and cultural forces threatening the survival of rural communities across Kansas and the Plains. He hopes it isn’t destined to become a “ghost town with the newest buildings. I don’t doubt that we’ll survive, but that’s not what we want to do,” he said. “We want to get a little growth.” This is the fifth in a series of stories investigating the decline in rural Kansas and efforts to reverse it.

MidAmerican growing wind generation in Hawkeye state, KWWLCurrently, MidAmerican Energy operates more than 2,600 wind turbines, many of which are in the Hawkeye state. The energy company says last year they paid roughly $21.1 million in lease payments to farmers for its wind projects. All of their turbines are built after a farmer expresses interest on putting it on their land.

Generations of leadership is focus of Women in Ag Leadership Conference, LeMars Daily Sentinel
Iowa State alumnus Elizabeth Burns-Thompson is the capstone speaker. Among the nation’s first cohort of 30 Under 30 leaders in agriculture, she is passionate about Iowa’s renewable energy. She will encourage women of all generations to follow their dreams and trust their own abilities and opportunities. Online registration is available at www.aep.iastate.edu/leadership
General registration is $60 and student registration is $30.

2019 holiday wish list: Power sector edition, Utility Dive With the holiday season upon us, many kids — and some adults — are making wish lists. In that spirit, Utility Dive queried a dozen industry and environmental/advocacy groups about their policy wish list.

By Janelle Atyeo, Midwest Messenger Regional Editor

Mother Nature tested Nebraska this year with massive floods and crippling blizzards, but as always, the people pulled together and made it through. In trying times like these, the power of community shines through.

This year, the Midwest Messenger has selected three rural towns where residents work together every day toward the betterment of their community. The 2019 Midwest Messenger Rural Communities of the Year are Stuart in northern Nebraska, and the Platte River communities of Osceola and Aurora further south. Continue reading here.

Written by Jon Burleson, Midwest Messenger Reporter

Stuart: Making it work – togetherThe village has plans to acquire land and develop sub-divisions north of town, get smart electric meters for dwellings, upgrading the town’s electric grid and looking at obtaining an independent solar array network (possibly with a fuel-cell link) as a backup against outages.

Osceola: A town that gets things done“The city, businesses, organizations and residents work together to achieve a balance of positive, social, economic and environmental outcomes,” Mayor Graff said. “It is for these reasons that Osceola is a wonderful place to live and raise a family.”

Aurora: Building on achievementThe success story that is Aurora, Nebraska, was a gradual process. It starts with the original settlers, who laid the groundwork and then were followed by a progression of resilient people that incrementally improved upon existing ideas. “We all stand upon someone else’s shoulders,” Aurora Mayor Marlin Seeman said. “We have been blessed with dynamic and aggressive visionaries.”

By Jerry Purvis, Scottsbluff Star-Herald

Work continues on a five-megawatt solar array to supplement the electrical supply in the City of Scottsbluff. The solar array, located north of Scottsbluff near the Landers Soccer Complex, includes more than 14,000 solar panels that will track the sun throughout the day. It’s expected to be online sometime in the first quarter of 2020. It’s the second solar project in the community for Nebraska Public Power District. The first one, a 128-kilowatt array that went into operation in 2017, is located at the Scottsbluff NPPD offices on South Beltline Highway. Traditional power generation costs about $58 per megawatt to produce at the wholesale level. Because solar power comes in at a lower rate, it will help lower the overall cost of electricity for NPPD consumers. Continue reading here.

Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Energy News Network

A decade ago, Craig Mosher was one of a half-dozen people trying to rethink energy in their small hometown of Decorah in northeast Iowa. “The general concern was climate change, but the specific concern was energy, and what we could do to reduce energy use and to shift to renewables,” Mosher recalled about the group’s early meetings at Luther College, a Lutheran school with a heavy environmental emphasis. Their solution? To create an “energy district,” an entity modeled after the soil and water conservation districts of the 1930s, but with a focus on energy. In the 10 years since the founding of the Winneshiek Energy District in Decorah, energy districts have become a movement in Iowa. Read more here.

Photo Credit: Winneshiek Energy District

Also In The News

Peering into a 55% solar future for the US, PV MagazineNational Renewable Energy Lab researchers conducted hourly modelling based on a future energy mix containing 55% solar power and found spring days of free electricity among the results, emphasizing the critical role energy storage will play.

Vermont letting homeowners sell solar power direct to business, PV MagazineGreen Mountain Power has launched a real time blockchain tracked peer to peer platform, starting December 2, to allow businesses to purchase solar power from customers who own the rights to the renewable energy credits via a phone app, using LO3 Energy’s backend software.

By Danielle Davis, KSNB Local 4

The Community Solar Farm in West Hastings is seeing customers gravitate to solar panel shares. The community solar farm has 6,000 solar panels and more than a thousand have already been bought. This form of renewable energy reduces air pollution, makes us less dependent on imported fuels and can create more jobs in our hometown. “With the solar panel you are paying for that upfront and then we are paying you for the power it generates,” said Derek Zeisler, Director of Marketing and Energy Supply, Hastings Utilities. Watch the video here.

This is the first of a four part series based on Utility Dive visits to cities that produce more renewable power than they consume.

ATCHISON COUNTY, MISSOURI — In the early 2000s, Eric Chamberlain was leading a funeral procession toward southern Minnesota when he saw several wind turbines spinning slowly over the low Iowa bluffs.

“On the way back, I pulled off. I did not pull off during the procession. I was very polite — I did not pull the hearse over,” he told Utility Dive while driving down the Rock Port, Missouri, street he grew up on, toward the four turbines that made the town of just over 1,200 famous. “But on the way back, I stopped at a local newspaper, which is always a good clearinghouse for information, and asked about some of the wind projects.” Continue reading here.

Photo Credit: Catherine Morehouse, Utility Dive

Additional Recommended Reading

Hydrogen In, Fossil Fuel Out For Leading Steelmaker, Eventually, CleanTech MediaThe EU is not the only hotspot for green hydrogen. Here in the US, things seem to be popping. California and several other coastal states have been promoting renewable H2 and fuel cells for a number of years, and just last month something called the Midwest Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Coalition popped up. The new coalition is significant because it ropes in a group of US states that tend to be associated with Rust Belt technology and fossil fuels — but they also happen to have some of the best wind resources in the US. As a group, they currently account for 35% of the installed wind capacity in the US. The list includes Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

‘Economic Curtailment’ – what it is and how to embrace it, PV MagazineIn this op-ed for pv magazine, Morgan Putnam outlines a five-step process for renewable developers, environmental advocacy organizations and state agencies to embrace economic curtailment. My experience is that many utility employees quickly realize that the economic curtailment of excess renewable energy isn’t so terribly different from the use of gas peakers.

First of all, thank you to our guest speaker, John Hay, Extension Educator for Bioenergy at UNL, who provided an excellent discussion on the steps for completing a good economic analysis for a Solar PV system. His presentation included the common mistakes that lead to poor or misleading analysis; the best economic metric for describing economics of a system; and beyond economics, how individual goals, values, and motivations impact solar PV decisions.

John is a do-it-yourselfer who designed and installed a photovoltaic system for his own home. He also has given presentations and taught hands-on workshops in communities throughout Nebraska, solely or in partnership with Jon Dixon, owner of Dixon Power Systems based in Lincoln.

We also extend our appreciation to our attendees, who came from as far away as Allen, Nebraska. Audience members contributed many insightful questions and comments to the discussion that followed Mr. Hay’s presentation.

Photo Credit: David Corbin, Nebraskans for Solar Board Member and Facebook Coordinator